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I'm giving it One Star, just because of the Production Value (Excellent), and the performances of the actors, of which several of the biggest & best are represented here. Otherwise, -4.
Yeah, I know it's Christie; I know it's a big Follywood Production, with some of the best stars, and of course, the famous "Death on the Nile". However, this is one of the stupidest stories & scripts ever! Even for Christie. Holy Cow! Nobody could have pulled that off, the way it's shown here, and H. Putroid is not clairvoyant, nor does he have a copy of the script! Moreover, he's also not omniscient, and clearly not ubiquitous.
The number of total impossibilities that have to take place (both on the criminal's & on Putroid's end) are always astronomical in Christie novels, but this one takes the cake. And that's even without the usual 'holding info from the audience' tactic. Ironically, it was easy to see that the hubby was in on it from the beginning, as someone had to be giving Jackie confidential info on the the daily itinerary of the Honeymoon.
The ending definitely seals the deal as to the utter absurdity of this script, even above and beyond how ridiculous it already was, which is mind boggling.

"Death on the Nile", 1978, was and is a trying film, as in trying to maintain interest in the characters. Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot has no energy. I did enjoy David Niven, Bette Davis, and Maggie Smith. Angela Lansbury is ridiculously dressed and too hammy. The best character is I.S. Johar as Mr Chaudhry, manager of the 'Karnak'. The Nile river gets little attention, nor do the pyramids and other Egyptian historical sites. In short, the film is too long and too empty of content.

kevfarley
Mar 13, 2014

The classic who-done-it with an excellent cast,.. and great views of Egypt.

This movie was made in 1978. Watch it for the all star cast, Peter Ustinov in the lead role, Betty Davis, Olivia Hussey, Mia Farrow, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, David Niven and Maggie Smith. A good movie but a box office disappointment.

So far this film is a sleeper for me; it literally put me to sleep. The only reason why I saw it was because one of my favorite actresses, Olivia Hussey stars in it. The Egyptian scenery and pyramids were cool to look at though. I will still give this film another try...hopefully I can stay awake for its entire duration.